In the past, SDI (Serial Digital Interface) switches have been used for stream synchronization. In the particular example of media and entertainment, when Internet Protocol (IP) was not used in the past for media, the video switcher would re-clock the streams with up to one frame of buffer (about 25 milliseconds, frame rate dependent) if the flows were not aligned. Over time, an increase in bandwidth caused a need for larger buffers. With the move to IP, with IP streams being switched by an IP switch, using existing techniques, synchronization cannot be done except on the receiver device, since holding a video frame or audio sample is not what an IP switch is designed for. Furthermore, holding a video frame or audio sample would introduce undesirable latency. The receiver-based flow switch requires doubling of bandwidth, since both the current flow and the new flow need to be sent to the receiver, since flow alignment may not be guaranteed.